Although China's daily COVID-19 cases are near all-time highs, some cities are taking steps to loosen testing and quarantine rules after Xi's zero-COVID policy triggered a sharp economic slowdown and public unrest. 

Haines, speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in California, said that despite the social and economic impact of the virus, Xi "is unwilling to take a better vaccine from the West, and is instead relying on a vaccine in China that's just not nearly as effective against Omicron".

"Seeing protests and the response to it is countering the narrative that he likes to put forward, which is that China is so much more effective at government," Haines said.

"It's, again, not something we see as being a threat to stability at this moment, or regime change or anything like that," she said, while adding: "How it develops will be important to Xi's standing."

China has not approved any foreign COVID-19 vaccines, opting for those produced domestically, which some studies have suggested are not as effective as some foreign ones.

That means easing virus-prevention measures could come with big risks, according to experts.

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